Explanation:
What are those strange rock structures?
They are towers and walls of sedimentary rock that are particularly plentiful in
Bryce Canyon in
Utah,
USA.
The rock columns may rise higher than 50 meters and are called
hoodoos.
On the far left is
Thor's Hammer,
perhaps the most famous
hoodoo.
The tall rock columns were carved, most typically, when a unusually dense cap of rock provided a layer of protection to rock underneath from rain-based
erosion.
In the above panoramic picture taken earlier this month and compressed horizontally, the foreground rocks were momentarily illuminated by a roving spotlight.
Visible in the background are a few
water clouds
a few kilometers away hovering over the nearby Earth.
Visible well beyond that are thousands of
individually discernible stars
averaging a few hundred
light years away in the nearby
Milky Way Galaxy.
Far in the distance lie billions of stars that are thousands of light years away and compose the faintly glowing arch that is the visible
central band of the flat disk of our Milky Way.
Over many years, wind and rain will eventually cause the tops of the
hoodoos to topple, whereafter the
underlying column will likely completely erode away.